There Will Be Further Growth in Our Economic Ties – Zuma

South Africa and Nigeria have agreed on the need to deepen economic cooperation between Africa’s two biggest economies‚ President Jacob Zuma said in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, on Wednesday.

“In this regard‚ we have agreed to formalize the South Africa-Nigeria Business Council‚ as it is an important instrument that will assist us in managing and advancing the economic relations between the two countries” Zuma said.

“South Africa is optimistic about the further growth of economic ties between the two countries‚” Zuma continued.

Addressing a meeting of the South Africa-Nigeria Business Council‚ he added that Nigeria had opened up its economy to South African companies in various sectors such as engineering‚ telecommunications‚ construction‚ aviation‚ media‚ banking‚ hospitality‚ entertainment‚ property‚ retail‚ and oil and gas exploration services.

“We welcome this significant development. We would like to see the numbers of Nigerian investments in South Africa also increasing‚ as we promote two-way trade between these two nations.” Zuma said very productive discussions had been held between the two governments on Tuesday.

“In our discussions with President Buhari yesterday we noted with satisfaction the ever growing cooperation in many sectors including trade and investment; defense and security; immigration matters; energy; mineral resources‚ to mention but a few,” Zuma concluded.

To date, there are over 120 South African companies doing business in Nigeria. Including MTN an issue that has been reported to have been touched on my the two world leaders as South Africa’s state pension fund is MTN’s largest single investor. MTN has been chastised under the Buhari administration for illegal business practices including but not limited to the telecommunications giant not registering subscribers.

There have also been varying reports that Zuma is committed to return the funds lost in the arms deal scandal and help in Nigeria’s war on terror.
(With information from Times News Daily)